Kraft Heinz to cut 2,500 jobs in U.S. and Canada

A Heinz Ketchup bottle sits between a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese and a bottle of Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce on a grocery store shelf in New York, March 25, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - Kraft Heinz Co (KHC.O) said it will eliminate 2,500 jobs in the United States and Canada, including about 700 at its headquarters in Northfield, Illinois.

Heinz, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital - known as an aggressive cost-cutter - combined with Kraft in March in a $46 billion deal that created the third-largest North American food company.

Kraft Heinz currently has about 46,000 employees, including about 1,900 at the company’s headquarters, spokesman Michael Mullen in an emailed statement to Reuters on Wednesday.

The combined Kraft Heinz has said it expects to save about $1.5 billion in annual costs by the end of 2017.

After buying Heinz in 2013 with Berkshire Hathaway, 3G cut 7,000 jobs over 18 months and closed six factories.

It also implemented many smaller curbs on spending, such as limiting employee use of company printers to 200 pages per month.

Kraft Heinz shares were down 0.8 percent at $77.32 in early trading. The shares have risen about 9 percent since they started trading on July 6.

Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Ted Kerr